Infinity: October Releases Analysis
Let’s take a look at October’s Infinity releases and talk about what they do on the battlefield.
I’ll start with these remotes. I’ve been painting my Combined Army recently and I’m excited to add these guys to the force. The box contains the parts to make two drones which can be any one of five different types. That means this segment is going to be a bit long. Regardless of type, all these drones are somewhat flimsy with ARM 0 and only 1 STR. The one bonus they have to their survivability is the Remote Presence ability so once they’re unconscious they must be wounded twice before they’re removed from the game. Other than that they all have very different roles. Most armies in Infinity (Ariadna and Tohaa being the exceptions) have five very similar drones of their own.
The R-Drone is a fast cheap Repeater with Mimetism, a Sniffer, and Flash Pulse as its only weapon. Other than the exceptions mentioned, every faction in the game can field a drone with identical stats and abilities to this one, although with some slight differences in FA. Usually people take them as cheap orders since they only cost 8 points. Yes, Combined Army players have super cheap Imetron AI beacons for orders, but those can drift off the board. These guys always start the game where you want them to be. So if you actually manage to get some use out of the Repeater all the better. The same can be said of the Sniffer since you need to have a Sensor equipped model to do anything with it. Although if you do have a Sensor around, the help in finding hidden models and identifying camo markers is good.
And speaking of Sensor, that’s where the M-Drone comes in. This guy comes with a list of abilities as long as your arm, also including Sat-Lock, Forward Observer, and Deactivator and Multiterrain. That’s quite a cool little Swiss army knife of skills. It even gets a Combi Rifle so it can defend itself. While this model is not the super cheap option the last guy is, the 17 points it will cost you gives you access to so much. In Combined Army, just the fact that it has Forward Observer is almost enough to justify that points cost. The cheapest FO you can take is only two points cheaper at 15. With so many abilities, it’s easy to imagine at least one of them coming up every game. Like all these drones, most Infinity Armies can take a very similar remote to this one. This is the only one with Multiterrain though.
The T-Drone is the Combined Army’s Smart Missile guy. Again, most armies can take an almost identical version of this one, the only variations being in FA. I have had bad luck with this type of remote, so this is one of my least favorite. Smart Missile Launchers seem great. If one of your Forward Observers or Hackers can get an enemy model into the Targeted state, this weapon can attack them with a bonus to hit, and without needing Line of Fire. In practice I’ve found myself wasting entire turns just to get my Observer into position. Then nine times out of ten, they get themselves killed doing the Observing. When they work they’re spectacular, but for now I’ve given up on Smart Missile Launchers. On the other hand, I haven’t tried one in an army with a Malignos, so maybe if you try that trick with a model that has TO camo and Infiltration you can make it work.
The Q-Drone has an HMG, a 360 Visor and Total Reaction. Once again, there are very similar remotes, but only this one has Mimetism making it extra annoying. For this very helpful ability you pay only one more army point than similar remotes in other armies. You can also take this drone with a Plasma Rifle for one less army point. While this gun has a lower Burst and DAM than an HMG, it has the option to use impact templates, and its Plasma Ammo means it arguably hits harder. Unfortunately, regardless of which gun you use, Combined Army players can only field one Q-Drone whereas all other armies can take two of their HMG variety Remotes.
I would argue that the Combined Army’s EVO Repeater, the E-Drone, is the best in the game. Perhaps this is because it’s the least like those of other armies. It is slightly faster than other army’s EVOs, and has a smaller base. 55mm bases are a huge hindrance in terrain heavy Infinity. Enough that I’ve given up on EVO remotes in the other armies I play. With just a 40mm base, the E-Drone might actually be fieldable. The downside is that the E-Drone’s Arm is 0 compared to 2 on similar remotes in other armies. It’s also 7 points more expensive. The truth is I’m not even sure EVOs are worth taking at all, given that they all cost half an SWC. I have largely terrible luck with hacking though so this might be the source of my lack of enthusiasm.
While you can magnetize just one box of these Remotes to get all the options, I haven’t ruled out buying two packs for my own army. I can easily see myself fielding two R-Drones a Q-Drone and an M-Drone in the same list – depending on what else I choose. Man that’s a lot about remotes. Let’s move on.
Another box of Heavy Infantry. Now you can take the Mobile Brigada you got from your Icestorm box and field a cool link team with these guys. In a Corregidor force at least. Their assortment of weapons will make them useful in any range band. Mobile Brigada are about as generic as it gets for heavy infantry. They’re elite troops and quite good on the table, but none of their stats break the curve. Their BS of 13 is pretty great, their ARM of 4 is pretty great, their WIP of 13 is pretty great, their BTS of 3 is… well that could stand to be a little better. If their stats were any higher though, they’d probably cost too many points to field as a link team and still have points left over for orders. They only have one special rule: V:Courage. Not a bad rule to have. Choosing the outcome of your guts roll is very helpful. As for that other part, normally if you find yourself in the Retreat state there’s no coming back. Finally there is a Tinbot profile for Brigada with Deflector L2, but not with any of these loadouts. I guess that’s what the one from Icestorm is for. Definitely worth it though if you take a full link since one little guy protects the whole team.
Hunzakuts are sneaky troops for Haqqislam. With Infiltration and Camo they get to pick from a large section of table then lie in wait. While all Hunzakuts can lay Antipersonnel mines, this one also has a Light Grenade Launcher for Speculative Fire fun times. They even have Deployable Repeaters to help out those great Haqqislam Hackers. Stat wise, these guys are little better than standard Haqqi line infantry like Ghulams. With BS 11, they’ll need to be in medium range to have any hope at all of actually landing a spec fire shot. Additionally they’re irregulars so they won’t share their orders. But they do have a fairly low price point given all the different things they can do.
Everyone loves the Nisse models right? I guess this guy doesn’t look quite as imposing as his brother with the Sniper Rifle but he does have the same cool long coat. Even more importantly he also has the same Multispectral Visor L2. And he’s just as sneaky with CH: Mimetism. Perhaps most importantly he has an HMG. Given just how many options Pan O has, it’s unsurprising that there are similar choices.
The cheaper HMG armed Bagh Mari also has Mimetism, but its Visor is one level lower, as are its BS, ARM, and some other inconsequential stats. I wouldn’t take him over the Nisse though unless you just absolutely can’t scare up that extra 8 points. They cost the same SWC and those are scarce. Might as well put them towards a more elite model. The real point of the Bagh Mari is to be on a Fireteam in an Acontecimento force anyway.
You could go for the higher end of the scale and take the Swiss Guard with the Level 3 Visor, along with much better BS, an extra point of ARM, and of course that extra Wound that nearly all Heavy Infantry get. He has a cool coat too, but he’ll cost you nearly twice the points plus an extra half SWC: so expensive he’s almost the kind of model you create a whole list around. The Nisse is still cheap enough that you can actually use it alongside a TAG or Aquila Guard and still have a healthy amount of points left over.
There’s really only one thing you need to know about this guy and that’s K1 Combi Rifle. Ok, so there’s more to him than that. This Combi Rifle version can be taken as an Engineer with a Nullifier, or a regular non-Engineer with Antipersonnel Mines. Both have D-charges. Engineer doesn’t come up often with Tohaa, so what version of Kosuil you run this guy as really depends on his equipment.
Nullifiers look really nasty, but getting them into position sounds tricky. In Infinity you have only so many orders to spend. Spending them on actions that prevent your opponent from doing things can be a waste. Bear in mind that this is coming from someone who has never faced or fielded a Nullifier so maybe it’s not so tricky as all that. As of now though, if I were a Tohaa player, I think I’d run this model as the version with the mines. While not technically an Engineer, he’s almost equally useful for objectives. And he has the same Symbiont Armor to help him reach and achieve those objectives. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also four points cheaper. I’d love to hear what you think though.
~Hope you enjoyed the article. It ran a little longer than usual thanks to those remotes. What are your favorite releases from October?
